Exploring Columbus with Dayna: Zest Juice Co

For my Second-Semester Explore Columbus Assignment, I chose to take my mentee to Zest Juice Co in Grandview. My mentee is Dayna Snow, a first-year Political Science major. This shop was in a nice area only about 5-10 minutes off campus. It is in the Grandview area, and Dayna had never been to the Grandview area! My mentee and I planned to meet up and do our Explore Columbus assignment on April 6^th, however we did not choose where we wanted to go ahead of time. Planning our Explore Columbus project was not as difficult as we expected it to be. I am at home this semester, which is about 2 hours away from campus. Dayna was aware of this, but we both kept in contact and decided that we wanted to do our Explore Columbus in person. Similar to last semester, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time before the semester ended, so that we were not planning around exams last minute. I had to travel down to Columbus for a composite picture day for my sorority, so I texted Dayna ahead of time to see if she was available that day. It worked out that she was available, and we made a plan that I would pick her up on Tuesday, April 6^th. At about 3:30 that day, we were trying to decide between coffee, smoothies, or ice cream. Dayna said that she was in the mood for smoothies, and I knew just the place to go. Zest Juice Co has been on my list of places to go for a while now, and Dayna said she had never heard of it. I was looking forward to checking out the location and sitting inside the shop with Dayna. I picked Dayna up around 4:00 and we drove there. Parking was easily accessible, which is hard to find in Columbus. We both agreed that even though the shop was only a few minutes from campus, it felt like a completely different world. Zest Juice Co is in a plaza right next to a Buffalo Wild Wings and across the street from a very beautiful yoga studio. We were both pleasantly surprised by how nice and clean it was inside the shop, and we found a nice seat by the window. We were the only two people sitting in, so it was nice and quiet. The menu was a bit overwhelming at first, but both of us decided on smoothies and sat down to talk. We both agreed that the smoothies were a bit pricey, but it was well worth it for the clean products used in the smoothies. We sat there for about an hour and a half and talked about our second semester experiences. We discussed the Covid vaccine quite a bit, because she had just gotten her Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and I was getting my Pfizer vaccine in a week. We talked about our optimism for fall semester and about her new role in the leadership council of ACES. I am the outgoing Communications chair, and Dayna is the incoming Communications chair so we talked a lot about the position! I gave her some tips and told her about some things I wish I would have known. We also completed our second-semester interview assignment for the mentorship program while we were there. When it was time to leave, we both agreed that we would definitely go back to Zest Juice Co, because it seemed like a great place to study and their smoothies were excellent. We were both very interested in trying their Smoothie bowls in the future. We drove back to campus and I dropped Dayna back off at Smith-Steeb so that she could go out to dinner with her friends! It was awesome getting to catch up with Dayna, especially after a semester at home. It was a beautiful day, so on our way back to campus we were able to see many people out on the Siebert Lawn and South Oval. We even saw her roommate crossing the street in front of us! Overall, we would both go back to Zest Juice Co, and recommend it to a friend. Their smoothies were great, the atmosphere was nice, and it was very easy to get to! There are many different locations of Zest Juice Co, but we would especially recommend the one in Grandview because it was very big and located in a nice area. I had a great time exploring this Columbus smoothie and juice shop with my mentee, and highly recommend this experience to others!

My mentee and I, Dayna Snow, chose to go to Zest Juice Co to combine our second-semester interview and explore Columbus assignment. While we were there, we talked about how Dayna’s semester has been and her recent experience getting the Covid vaccine. She expressed that she is optimistic about a normal college experience in the fall. The questions that I chose to ask Dayna are as follows:

Are you enjoying your major? Why or why not?

This was a question that I was especially excited to ask Dayna because she had recently changed her major. Dayna was in the process of changing her major when we met up first semester, so I was eager to hear how she was doing in her new major. She said that she was genuinely enjoying this major more than she enjoyed her original major. She is now a Political Science major, and she likes it because she is learning a lot about the world in general. It is something that she is genuinely interested in, so it doesn’t really feel like schoolwork when she’s in her classes. I expressed that this is how it should feel. I am excited to keep checking in on her progress in her major and I hope she continues to enjoy it as much as she expressed when we talked.

What class on your current schedule is most challenging and why?

Dayna found Data Analytics to be her most challenging class so far. It is a GE class for Political Science. This class involves coding, and the coding is very specific. While I was not able to provide help with this because I am not a math person and have never attempted coding, I validated how she was feeling about this class and encouraged her for a great end to the semester in this class. She expressed that she is excited for it to be over because she is almost done with math in college.

Do you think you will keep the same involvement next year, why or why not?

This question was a difficult one to answer, since this year has been unprecedented and, as Dayna expressed in our first meeting, it was hard to get involved as a freshman. I figured that this would be difficult because I personally enjoyed the involvement fair when I was a freshman, and their involvement fair was completely virtual and somewhat confusing. Dayna said that she does look forward to getting a little bit more involved next semester, but for the most part she is content with her current involvement. We also discussed that she will be more involved in ACES, because of her new position on the leadership council. I celebrated the accomplishment of this leadership role with her and highlighted some of the things that I loved about my role as Communications chair on leadership council this year. I will use what I know about her excitement for involvement and try to send her opportunities to get involved in the future.

What recommendations do you have for improving the ACES program?

Dayna did not really have any recommendations in this category, because she has enjoyed her experience in the scholar program so far. Her only recommendation, as expected, is more in-person events. Of course, that will depend on the precautions in the fall semester. We were both optimistic that she will get to experience more in person events for her second year in the ACES program. She also mentioned that more interactive community meetings could be helpful, since many people in her grade in the program do not know each other. Her and her roommate live on the sixth floor of Smith-Steeb instead of the fifth, so it has been difficult for them to meet other ACES.

Have you had the chance to explore your desired career through internships, field experiences, etc?

Dayna just changed her major from Early Childhood Education to Political Science this semester, so she has not had a chance to check career opportunities or internships out yet. However, in her survey class, she had to look at Handshake for an assignment and saw many cool internships and career opportunities for the future. One cool internship that she looked into was for NPR. I look forward to seeing the opportunities that open for Dayna in the future as she gets deeper into her new major.

What is your favorite memory from last semester?

Last semester, during a nice day, Dayna and her friends went to the Short North and got sushi together. During this little adventure off campus, they also checked out some of the cool local shops located in the Short North. I shared with her some of my favorite places in the short north, and we discussed our experiences with transportation to get there.

I have enjoyed connecting with Dayna this year through the Mentorship program, and I look forward to continuing building our friendship in the future.